The Supplyframe Magazine RealTalk Electronics was released at the Hackaday Superconference.
It includes the article State of the Electronics Trade War which we contributed to.
It’s awesome to be included in this group of authors!
Category Archives: Engineering
PCB Etching with AxiDraw
Patricio Gonzalez Vivo has been using AxiDraw for circuit board etching experiments.
He draws on copper clad boards with a Sharpie marker with the AxiDraw.
Drawing is followed by a chemical bath.
The marker is cleaned off of the remaining copper to reveal the design. It came out beautifully.
Etching orbits and planets into PCB boards using @EMSL #axidraw more images and videos here https://t.co/joJeG7hQgA pic.twitter.com/22ERZM96gn
— PatricioGonzalezVivo (@patriciogv) November 10, 2018
If you’ve used the AxiDraw for marker masking for etching, we’d love to hear about it!
AxiDraw Ouija Board
Last year before Halloween, Evan used an AxiDraw hidden in a box to animate a ouija board. He also posted a progress video from before adding the LEDs and doing the lettering and finishing. It turned out beautifully!
Three Fives Kit in Servo Magazine
Our Three Fives Timer Kit is featured on the September 2018 cover of Servo Magazine.
The article inside talks about the workings of the 555 and features a project using the Three Fives kit in a custom carrier board to run a blinker circuit on a robot.
AxiDraw Pantograph
Mike Jacobs added a pantograph to his AxiDraw to multiply its size range.
Not content with that, he doubled it.
Bigger!!! I extended the extension—now it’s a double pantograph!! The #axidraw #plotter draws ~8.5×12” out of the box. My pantograph increases that to 45×58”. The precision has gone hell and there’s some warping—
Increasing unpredictability! I added a swiveling mini roller. Now I really have no clue what a finished piece will look like, and there’s a good chance that no two pieces will look alike.
It is always exciting to see what creative things people do with an AxiDraw!
Science Hack Day SF
I will be at Science Hack Day SF giving a lightning talk on Creative Off-Label Tool Use featuring some of the cool and unusual ways people are using AxiDraw and other tools we make. I’ll also have an AxiDraw in the hardware hacking area to play with.
Science Hack Day is October 27-28 and is free, so register now!
P.S. If you’re doing something interesting and science or research related with your AxiDraw, please let me know!
Invisible Ink with AxiDraw
Joanie LeMercier has been working on a project using invisible ink and different lighting schemes with the AxiDraw. He has posted a bunch of clips and pictures in his twitter stream with the heading “Invisible drawing.”
— ᴊᴏᴀɴɪᴇ ʟᴇᴍᴇʀᴄɪᴇʀ (@JoanieLemercier) September 14, 2018
Head over to the thread where you can see more progress shots as well as completed drawings.
The AxiDraw SE/A3
We’re very pleased to introduce a new member of the AxiDraw family: the special edition AxiDraw SE/A3. This new model joins our existing models including the AxiDraw V3 and AxiDraw V3/A3.
Like the AxiDraw V3/A3, the AxiDraw SE/A3 has an XY travel suitable for use paper up to 11×17″/A3 size. However, in place of the central extrusion that makes up the body of that machine, the AxiDraw SE/A3 has a central beam that is CNC machined from a solid billet of 6061-T6 aluminum, and then anodized to a sleek black finish.
This heavy, rigid structure — it’s a solid block of metal! — provides dramatically better straightness and stiffness, even compared to the already-stiff AxiDraw V3/A3. This design adds mass exactly where you want it: to the non-moving base that forms the X-axis of the machine. In order to keep the weight light where it matters, the moving Y-axis of the AxiDraw SE/A3 uses the same stiff and light custom aluminum extrusion that we use on the AxiDraw V3/A3.
We made a video showing off the SE/A3, and how it’s made:
The AxiDraw SE/A3 is available to order now at the Evil Mad Scientist shop.
CMYK Portraits with AxiDraw
Spongenuity has been posting some wonderful portraits made with AxiDraw on instagram, including some CMYK ones like the one below.
New Book: 10 LED Projects for Geeks
We just got our author copies of 10 LED Projects for Geeks! Our friend John Baichtal shepherded this book into the world as its editor, getting contributions from a great set of folks.
The book, published by No Starch Press, turned out beautifully. It has good pictures, clear drawings, and bright colors.
It brings a few of our classic projects onto the printed page, including LED-lit Sea Urchins, Electric Origami, the Dark Detecting LED, and Edge-lit Cards. Thank you, John, for letting us be a part of this!
